Giveaway May 8th to May 16th at Midnight! POP-UP SHAKESPEARE by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor and Amazing Pop-Upness Artwork by Jeannie Maizels

Have you ever seen The Reduced Shakespeare Company? I’ve never had the opportunity to see them in person, but years ago, back in the days of DVDs, I watched their DVD something like 20-30 times. I love them! They make Shakespeare so accessible, lively, and energetic. And completely hilarious. Every high school should start off doing The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged if they can. These guys just do such a great job of giving Shakespeare’s works the context and relevance it deserves. They’re so inspiring. After watching them you’ll get to experience that feeling of, “OH, thaaaaat’s why Shakespeare’s such a big deal. I get it.” (If you didn’t already feel that way. If you do already feel that way, you’ll be like, “Wow, these guys are crazy-brilliant.”)

One thing you’ll notice about their performance if you see the DVD is that these guys have so much energy and they bounce, and pop, and jump all over the stage. So it is only fitting that they have created a Shakespeare POP-UP book. And they didn’t just create any pop-up book — they, with the skill and brilliance of artist extraordinaire Jennie Maizels created a dazzling, interactive, and immensely entertaining one! It’s so impressive what they’ve created and how they’ve done it. I love this book so much.

POP-UP Shakespeare contains an incredible amount of information and tons of interesting facts. You’ll first learn that Shakespeare was a human being. Yes, you may have realized this, but I hadn’t. I mean, I knew he was a human, but this book makes you understand that he really was just a human being. Maybe multiple people actually wrote the plays, I don’t know, BUT Shakespeare at least wrote some of them and he was a person. He had parents, he failed at things – like glove making, and he was a really crappy father and husband at least in some aspects. (I try not to judge, because I wasn’t there and who knows what was really going on with all of that — but it is super interesting to think about and wonder about — what was Shakespeare doing those seven years where he went missing? Maybe his wife was happy to have him gone? Maybe he was a pain in the a…anyway… you get my point. It’s interesting to think about!)

You will learn what Shakespeare left for his wife in his will. (What will Will leave in his will?) Which is nuts and really makes you wonder what that was all about.

You’ll also learn the crazy thing that Shakespeare’s father was fined for. Things you never thought people would do or get fined for! You’ll learn a lot more, but these are the things that really sank into my mind.

Oh! All that AND you’ll learn about what happened to Shakespeare’s head! So weird! And there was even a warning written on his grave — there is some story there — I love imagining all the possible scenarios.

Our authors have a great sense of humor, respect, and irreverence for Shakespeare. It’s a non-fiction book completely, but the guys are not afraid to give their opinion — and I love it all.

The pop-ups are very well crafted. Gosh, Jennie Maizels is phenomenal. You can tell these pop-ups were agonized and fretted over. Details also abound: the way each page opens and closes, the placement of the pop-ups, and how you have to – at times – physically turn the book around or move around the book to read it. There’s nothing at all passive about this book. It’s sturdier than a lot of pop-up books, but still can be damaged easily. My five-year-old and eight-year-old are just now the right ages for it – even though I think the age range is something like eight to twelve – but unless you have one of those amazingly careful kids – I wouldn’t go any younger than that.

The sections are divided into five spreads: Welcome, Comedies, Histories, Romances, and Tragedies – and the plays are divided into these groups. Each play gets a little bit of a synopsis. (If you want to learn how to write a synopsis, this book is a perfect go to. They synopsis the begeezuz out Shakespeare.) And then there are important and interesting facts about the plays sprinkled throughout the book that are extraordinarily valuable to know if you’re into trivia or just trying to sound super smart around people you don’t know that love Shakespeare.

I love this book. My kids think it’s very funny. They love the pop-ups, they love that I get so excited when I talk about Shakespeare, and they love how interactive it all is. This book is such a win.

Speaking of winning, let’s do a giveaway! So nice of Candlewick to provide this.

The rules, etc. Open to US and CANADA Addresses Only (I’m so sorry everybody else! It’s not you, it’s the price of postage!) No PO Boxes, please.

Must be 18 years or older.

I will share your address with the company that will be mailing you the book, but I won’t share it with anyone else unrelated to the giveaway.

This giveaway is open between May 8th to May 16th, 2019 by midnight. To Enter:

PLEASE NOTE: If I experience any technical glitches, errors, or anything else annoying and gets in the way of running this giveaway that I cannot predict — I reserve the right to change the way I run the giveaway or fix it in whatever way I need to for it work. I am acting in good faith and doing my best to make sure this runs smoothly.

Good luck and thank you for stoping by!

Where Obtained: I received a review copy from the publisher. No other compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

FTC Disclosures: Some of the links in the post above are Amazon affiliate links and others are IndieBound affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase something, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Which goes to fund my family’s picture book habit. It’s a vicious cycle, but we manage. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This book looks and sounds amazing! I took a Shakespeare class in college and discovered all kinds of cool things about the guy. And I came out the other side with new appreciation for his work. One of my faves is King Lear. But one of my favorite lines is “little pitchers have big ears” from Richard III. I do recall memorizing Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy when I was in high school. I still can recite most of it. My son is now studying Romeo and Juliet in his freshman high school English class.

Ooooh, fascinating! Now I’m also wondering whether the great Shakes was actually a woman, too. Intriguing. When I took the Shakespeare class from a Shakespeare expert, he debunked all the suggestions that it was another man. Wonder what he would say about this?!

The Picture Book Review is a blog that reviews picture books (and books with pictures!) submitted for review from authors, illustrators, publishers, and publicists. No other compensation is received for the reviews. All opinions are solely that of The Picture Book Review.

This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate and IndieBound Affiliate Programs.
If you click on the link and purchase something, we will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.